Dell rolls out affordable laptops for designers

Dell's new pair of heavy duty mobile workstations

Dell revealed a pair of new business laptops to join its line of Precision mobile workstations.

The new Precision M4700 and Precision M6700 come with a respective 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch display along with the impressive option to pre-load the system with either Windows 7 or Red Hat Linux 6.

Both laptops are designed for professional developers, offering a customizable configuration with Intel's Ivy Bridge Core i5 or i7 Extreme Edition processors with TurboBoost technology.

What's more, both have up to 32GB of 1600MHz system memory or 16GB at 1866MHz and a solid state drive up to 512GB.

They offer a variety of graphics options, including a NVIDIA Quadro K-series GPU or AMD FirePro graphics. They also feature WLED and IPS RGB display options for clearer precision when dealing with color-critical work.

They are also equipped with a variety of expansion ports, including two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, an eSATA/USB combo port, and integrated video ports for VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort 1.2.

A more powerful mobile workstation

The M6700 features unique customization options with its larger size. It offers the option of a 10-finger multitouch display, NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro support, and the choice to equip a powerful AMD FirePro M6000 GPU with PCIe x16 Gen 3.

Dell is calling the M6700 the "lightest 17-inch mobile workstation." That mobile workstation caveat is important as it weighs in at 7.76lbs with the starting configuration, which includes a 9-cell battery.

There will also be a Covet Edition of the M6700, featuring a red finish on the chassis and a Gorilla Glass 2 screen at an extra charge.

While both the M4700 and M6700 offer high specs after customization, their base price is only $1,649 and $2,199 respectively.

The M6700 Covet Edition will start at $3,579. The Precision M4700 and Precision M6700 are available to order starting today through Dell's website.